The Legacy of Indra Otsutsuki
by Anime Student
Summary: Rather than being the reincarnation of Ashura, Naruto was the reincarnation of the elder brother, Indra. Rather than being born to Minato and Kushina he is born to an Uchiha and another Uzumaki. He is grandson to Madara Uchiha. He is all of these things but there is one thing he is not. He is not weak. "Lets show the world why the Uchiha are feared." AU, Uchiha Naruto, Grey Naruto
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Guys how's it going!? Well as you can see this is Anime Student aka Muay Thai Demon with a new story that I have adopted! I give complete credit to the original writer of this story but I will be editing these chapters so as to make each chapter a minimum of 10k words. I really enjoyed this story written by Mejciu and its original name was the same except for the added the that I put in on the beginning of the story name. I hope you enjoy this story as well as this chapter! So without further ado enjoy the story!**

 **Chapter 1: Prologue**

In the world of the shinobi, darkness could either be a man's best friend or the most feared and dangerous of adversaries. It was a time where assassins thrived and, as such, meant that it was usually when a shinobi's guard was at their highest.

It would be surprising to most onlookers, then, to see a man walking outside of a small town near the border of Hi no Kuni with his mind seemingly on anything but his surroundings. However, if one were to have any significant knowledge of the world's most powerful men, it would be easy to see why he paid little attention to any possible threats.

The man stood at roughly 180 centimeters with midnight black hair cascading down his back until it reached his waist. He was garbed in maroon armor that was comprised of numerous metal plates along his chest, waist, shoulders, and thighs – the same type of protective garb that samurai within the Land of Iron were often seen in.

Under the protective armor was a long-sleeved shirt with a knee-length mantle, a pair of loose-fitting pants that were wrapped at the shins, open toed boots, and a pair of gloves that were all as black as the darkness surrounding the figure as he continued walking forward. Upon the back of his shirt, though hidden underneath his mane of hair, rested a symbol that would stay with him for life regardless of the betrayal that others would inflict upon him.

It was a symbol of a white and red fan – the symbol of the Uchiha clan.

Putting this all together led to the conclusion that this man was none other than the legendary Uchiha Madara himself – one of the most powerful shinobi that had ever lived. The man who had been known to destroy what many considered armies in mere seconds, make weaker individuals fall unconscious from his presence alone, and the only other living shinobi to have ever matched Senju Hashirama in single combat.

Despite the fact that there was very little that could bother a shinobi of his caliber, however, his eyes were currently displaying an array of various emotions. Various emotions that seemed to flash within his eyes sporadically before changing just a few short moments later. Frustration, sadness, and anger seemed to be the primary focuses, though there was the look of sorrow and resolve mixed in from time to time as well.

As he continued to walk leisurely through the forest, knowing all too well that no one in the immediate area could possibly harm him, he couldn't help but let his thoughts roam back to the one man he respected above all others. Kami seemed to have a bit of a sense of irony in that regard seeing as the same man was also his best friend…and his most bitter rival. The man was none other than Senju Hashirama, the recently-dubbed Shinobi no Kami.

The fact that Madara and Hashirama were close friends was something that very few people knew about. Even fewer knew the fact that they had secretly trained together when they were children and had even shared ideas and dreams for the future. This friendship between an Uchiha and a Senju was forbidden of course, but that taboo within their respective clans hadn't stopped them. Their friendship had only been forced to cease when their clans learned of its occurrence and subsequently made them stop for fear of spilling unnecessary blood.

However, despite Madara's acceptance of this in order to protect his family, Hashirama had never truly given up hope for the two of them to truly be friends and live out the dreams and ideas they had shared. This was proven during a heated battle between the Senju and Uchiha where Madara had been struck down and open to kill. Despite Tobirama's insistence on killing him, Hashirama had pleaded for the opportunity for the Senju and the Uchiha to come together to create a world where the fear of battle wasn't the only constant in the world.

Yet, despite his childhood dreams, Madara had been jaded heavily by that point due to the deaths of so many of his clansmen. He had told Hashirama he would agree to bring the clans together under the condition that the man either killed his brother or himself. A fitting payment, he thought, since his own brother had been a casualty of war.

However, much to his surprise, Hashirama had readily agreed to the unreasonable terms he had set. Surprising him further, he had begun to disrobe with the obvious intent of killing himself in order to create peace for others. Seeing the man's resolve and courage, Madara had told him to stop before he went through with the act.

'Hn, I shouldn't have given him a choice in the matter. If I had made him sacrifice Tobirama, this wouldn't have had to happen…' Madara thought as obvious signs of regret crossed his admittedly handsome features. However, this quickly changed as his brow furrowed and his fists clenched – obviously having become quite angry at the thought of Konoha's beloved Nidaime.

Things after that battle had set the course of history for the shinobi world and inspired a change that many clans thought would be impossible – an alliance between the Uchiha and the Senju. With a part of the agreement having been to live near one another to promote familiarity with one another, the initial founding of what would later be named Konohagakure came to pass.

Due to the wide-spread power and fame these two clans had come to accumulate, several smaller clans also jumped at the opportunity to become a part of their alliance. Though there were a handful of individuals who thought it would be wise to leave these smaller clans to fend for themselves, Hashirama and Madara both thought it would be beneficial to allow them to become a part of it. With the two clan heads mutually agreeing on the idea, clans such as the Sarutobi, Hyuga, Nara, and others all joined alongside the Uchiha and Senju.

After the acceptance of the new clans, however, a valid point was raised amongst the clan leaders. Though everyone agreed that clan heads should operate independently of one another, their alliance and their new village needed a leader. This was only highlighted by the fact that their spies reported construction of hidden villages in other nations, and the threat of war loomed over their heads once more. A chain of command, to some degree at least, needed to be established to ensure that there were no conflicting orders.

When the day came to elect the leader, a position they decided to refer to as the Hokage, Hashirama had been the first to cast his vote…and he had chosen Madara. It was a gesture that caused even the stoic Madara to crack a smile, and an action that the Uchiha would certainly never forget. However, the meaning of said gesture quickly became a moot point as every single clan head then proceeded to vote for Hashirama save himself. It became abundantly clear that, though the Uchiha were allied with the others, nearly no one trusted them.

Despite being disappointed at the matter, Madara hadn't gotten too upset over it. Hashirama was powerful, influential, and incredibly charismatic. Though he still thought himself a better choice to lead in the long-term, he wouldn't grudge his friend on obtaining leadership of the village. The Uchiha clan had done some nasty things in their quest for dominance, and he would do his best to lead them in their atonement for it in service of Konoha.

Years passed after that with Hashirama leading Konoha into prosperity – even going so far as to give certain Bijū to other villages to try to ensure peace. The Uchiha clan head did as he had promised and valiantly did his best to bring the Uchiha into the light, though he did so while keeping their pride as well. They would not belittle themselves by asking for forgiveness, but the Uchiha would prove their loyalty by feats on the battlefield.

During this time, Madara had even done something he never thought would genuinely happen – he had fallen in love with a beautiful woman. Uchiha Hitomi, a woman whose beauty far outshone Mito's and everyone else's in his opinion, had won his heart after several years of chasing after him. He had only been happier, then, when Hashirama announced that he was making him advisor to the Hokage shortly before they had wed.

6 years after marrying, despite having been told by doctors that it was impossible, Madara had been elated once again to hear that his wife was pregnant with his child. There were those who had sworn they had seen a ghost that day, for the stoic Madara had worn a grin so large that Hashirama himself would've had difficulty matching it.

He had obtained nearly everything he could hope for at that point. His childhood dream was mostly achieved, the only part that wasn't being the fact that he wasn't leading the village, and had a beautiful wife who was pregnant with his first child. Things couldn't have been better for the leader of the Uchiha clan.

Yet, human nature only allows us such extreme happiness due to experiencing great sorrow. 9 months later, a short 7 years after he was married to his beloved Hitomi, she had passed away shortly after successfully delivering their son. She had already lost so much blood due to the birth that she never even got the chance to see him.

Madara had only known despair close to what he felt that day when he had lost his brother. However, before he lost himself to it completely, he had forced himself to remain above it for his son if for no other reason. He had intended to let Hitomi choose the boy's name, but as she hadn't gotten the chance, he elected to name him after his beloved brother.

Thus, Uchiha Izuna then entered the world. The following years were spent assisting Konoha from his role as an advisor, but he focused his primary efforts on raising his son to be a proper Uchiha shinobi. It was obvious that the boy came from his blood. Izuna was nearly a carbon copy of his father, though his hair seemed to find a balance between the smooth hair of his mother had and the spiky hair of Madara.

Training for the young Uchiha was intense even by Madara's normal standards. Having wanted nothing more than to make his father proud, Izuna successfully passed the Uchiha trial of adulthood at an astounding 4 years old – only 3 months after he had first tapped into his chakra network. Thanks to constant sparring with his father, and constantly having the speed of the spar increased despite his young age, he awakened his Sharingan at a mere 6 years of age and had progressed to 3 tomoe in each eye just before he turned 8.

However, it was around this time where things began to get dark again. Though they had prevented anything too major from occurring years ago, the threat of war loomed on the horizon once more. Madara grew more worried, then, when he finally deciphered the tablet the Uchiha had held in high-regard after so long and he read that mankind was doomed to repeat history. With the threat, however, came talks of electing a new Hokage. With high hopes that he would be elected to the position and hopefully lead Konoha through the dark times ahead, he attended the meeting where it would be decided who would be proposed as the next Hokage to the Jonin Council of the village.

Hashirama, once again, tried to push for Madara to become elected. However, much to his displeasure and Madara's fury, they chose to pass him over and elect Tobirama in his stead. Tobirama, upon receiving the nomination and accepting, then made a speech to the others about not trusting those who hadn't deserved it. The man who would likely become the Nidaime then had the gall to glance at Madara as if sending a silent message. It was something no one else seemingly caught, but to the Uchiha clan head, the message was clear.

The Uchiha, after all their years of dedication to the village, were still not trusted.

Deciding that enough was enough, the powerful Uchiha clan head decided to attempt to leave the alliance that he had formed so long ago and take his brethren with him. After trying to propose that the Uchiha leave the village, however, he found out that he was alone in his opinion.

No one viewed the new policies Tobirama was passing as him attempting to isolate the Uchiha clan, no one viewed the other clan heads as being against them, and no one believed that he was merely trying to convince them of doing something he thought was right. What's more is that many thought he was trying to return to his war-loving ways, causing him to lose a great deal of the trust they had placed within him.

The Uchiha, his brothers and sisters in arms, collectively turned their back on him – most whispering about possibly electing a new clan head shortly while well within his hearing range.

Angry with the village as a whole, full of sorrow over his clan's betrayal, and full of resolve to remedy the situation, he came up with an idea of how to solve the problem. An idea that was ludicrous, crazy, and perhaps brilliant in the eyes of anyone who was as distraught as he was.

After one last conversation with Hashirama at the Naka Shrine to talk with his best friend civilly for the last time, Madara left the village after stating his obvious intent to destroy it and start anew. He left the village peacefully in the dead of night, his sole follower being his son Izuna. It would be the last time anyone would see the two for nearly 7 years.

When he was finally seen again, it was at the Valley of the End as it would eventually come to be called...and he hadn't come alone. After securing himself and Izuna a place to live at the border of Hi no Kuni, he had spent the remaining years in search of one of Hashirama's 'pets.' In particular he sought the most powerful of them all – the Kyuubi no Yoko.

After hypnotizing the beast using his powerful Sharingan, he had ridden it towards Konohagakure with the intent of razing the village to the ground. However, he was stopped before he had gotten there by the only man who could hope to withstand his wrath. While a small part of him didn't like the idea of battling his best friend once again, he was far too eager to face him in open combat once more. With the benefit of Konoha's destruction as a goal to boot, he happily jumped into the fight.

The fight between the two men would be one that would go down in history. It was devastating to the landscape, horrifying to those close enough to witness a mere fraction of what was happening, and absolutely exhausting to both men involved. When all was said and done, however, Hashirama had proven to be the better fighter once again. He successfully freed the Kyuubi from Madara's control and had even landed a rather substantial blow on him. However, he hadn't noticed the last moment Genjutsu Madara had used in order to successful fake his death.

It had now been 2 days after the battle, the first of which the legendary Uchiha had used mostly to rest and recover from his wounds. Now, as he walked up the stairs to a small log cabin that was located a fair distance outside of the small village they used for supplies, he couldn't help but feel fantastic. Despite the fact that he had lost the fight, a part of him felt invigorated to an extent that he had never genuinely felt before.

Though he was unaware of it at the time, he had unintentionally taken another step to changing history by accidentally having gotten a good deal of Hashirama's power mixed with his own through his various wounds. Thoughts on his battle with Hashirama were limited though as the man promptly opened the door to the cabin without bothering to knock first. A small, nearly unseen smile crept across his face as his eyes fell upon the form of his son eating dinner as any normal civilian child might.

Izuna had remained very much the same over 7 years, all things considered. He still kept Madara's looks with slightly smoother hair, and he had even inherited most of his personality as well.

"Tou-san," the 14 year old said curtly as he finished a particularly large mouthful of fish and rice he had been chewing on. "How did it go?"

The legendary Uchiha merely stepped forward and took a seat opposite his son, allowing an elbow to rest on the table and rest his chin in his open palm. He was thankful, in hindsight, that he hadn't hidden anything from the boy. Having to explain a betrayal to the village he had once been loyal to would be difficult at this point in time.

"Not well," Madara admitted as he let his eyes stay closed for a few moments. "Hashirama can still dance quite well. The Kyuubi is now out of my control, and I believe he intends to seal it in some way to ensure that I can't do it again. With Mito at his side, I have little doubt that he can do so if he desires."

Silence permeated the room for a few moments as Izuna processed the information, though it was a testament to his mental fortitude that he still continued to consume small pieces of food as he thought things over.

"I'm now going to be the most wanted person in Hi no Kuni," the elder Uchiha stated as he lifted his chin out of his palm and used the now-free appendage to rub the bridge of his nose instead. A few more moments of silence followed before he spoke again. "We cannot stay here. Though I believe I have fooled Hashirama, Hi no Kuni could easily send an army after us if word reached them that we still lived within their borders."

"…I know," Izuna stated after a few moments as he elegantly placed his chop sticks to the side. "Truthfully, I had been giving some thought as to where we should go in case something like this came to pass."

Madara's eyes widened marginally at hearing that, but he quickly turned his expression back into a neutral one again.

"Really?" The elder Uchiha prompted with a quirked eyebrow. "The very boy who convinced me to settle down near here is now telling me he wants to leave? What of that girl from the ramen stand?"

Izuna's expression remained mostly neutral at the mention of the girl, but Madara hadn't missed the pain that flickered across his eyes for the briefest of moments.

"Her name is Akane, Tou-san," the younger Uchiha chided slightly despite knowing that his father would likely never remember it. "There…is nothing between us, we're just friends."

It was obvious to the armor-clad man that his son was telling the truth, but there also seemed to be a pain behind his words that suggested he wished it were more. The mild blush on his cheeks that he seemed to be making a valiant effort to hide also helped with that presumption.

"I see," Madara stated as he thought about how to shift the conversation away from that particular topic. "You mentioned you were thinking about places we could go, did you have any in mind?"

Izuna's slightly downcast eyes shot upward at this as he gave a curt nod.  
"Yes, actually," he stated as his mood took a mild upturn at the chance of topic. "There have been rumors going around that Tobirama had called a stop to peace talks with other villages. According to some traveling shinobi at the bar, Konoha is preparing for war. That being the case, Uzushiogakure seems like it would be a safe place to be considering your friendship to Kenshin."

Silence permeated the room once again as Madara digested the information. Uzushiogakure seemed like it would be the worst place to be at first due to his missing-nin status in Konoha and Uzu's strong ties to the Senju. However, if Konoha was indeed prompting war by calling a halt to peace talks, then the leader of the village renowned for its sealing would be quite displeased. Fortune seemed to stack slightly in their favor due to the fact that the man was a close friend to Madara as well.

"…Very well," the elder Uchiha stated with a small nod of his head as he pushed himself up from his position at the table – his armor rattling slightly as a result. "We're fortunate that Kenshin was so close to Hashirama and myself…as well as the fact that he always hated that Baka Tobirama. Uzu really made a good choice in electing him as their leader. I'm going to go and make sure that he receives a letter detailing our plans."

Moving to the door, Madara paused as he took a deep breath of the fresh air that hit him.

"We'll leave in four days," he stated to Izuna without turning his gaze to face him. "I would suggest that you make the most of the time we have remaining in this town…it's quite possible we may never be able to return. Enjoy what little time you have left with her Izuna." After finishing, the armour-clad man leisurely walked out of the doorway and pulled it shut with a soft click, leaving Izuna alone in the room with a thoughtful and surprised expression upon his face.

 **4 days later**

The two Uchiha men stood clad with sizeable packs upon their shoulders at the edge of the small town Izuna had come to love over the 7 years he had spent there.

The young Uchiha had elected to use his previous 4 days wisely – having spent nearly every second of the day with Akane when she was available. He had chosen to tell her he would be leaving, and also admitted that he wanted to spend what free time he could with her before he left. However, despite that admission, he hadn't dared confess his true feelings to the girl. Knowing that he would be confessing only to likely never see her again would've left far too deep of an emotional scar on the both of them.

The two had spent the days happily with one another, seemingly just content to be in the other's company. The two were close, far closer than the usual love-struck teenagers would be, but they held strong in not admitting their mutual feelings for one another. After all, it would only make parting that much more painful.

It was in the dead of night that the two men now stood to get their last look of the place. Though Madara had no strong attachment to the area, he knew that his son was another story. Despite his stern appearance and personality most of the time, even he would not rob his flesh and blood of the opportunity to engrain the scene into his memory if he so desired.

"…Let's go, Tou-san," Izuna said with a voice that seemed to be struggling a bit to remain steady as he quickly turned his back to the village and began walking down the path that would lead out of Fire Country.

"Very well," Madara stated as he turned and began to walk a steady pace behind his son who had taken the lead presumably to hide any emotions that he found himself unable to hide. Knowing this, he was content to let Izuna lead until he could bring them under control. "Lead the way."

 **3 days later**

As the two Uchiha walked upon the first piece of solid land that they had seen in hours, both found themselves at the welcoming party that had awaited them. Madara's letter, it seemed, had reached them successfully. Waiting for them perhaps 50 yards forward and getting closer every second was Kenshin himself along with a guard of 5 shinobi and 3 kunoichi.

Though both men had immediately tensed for the possibility of combat, a simple hand gesture from Kenshin had left the guards where they were while he and Madara walked forward to speak to one another. A few minutes into the conversation that even Izuna was not privy to hearing, Madara had waved him forward as Kenshin lead them back to his group of guards.

"We're being given a place to stay for as long as we desire to remain here," the elder Uchiha stated as his son came into hearing range. "Well, so long as I'm willing to grace Kenshin with talks about the good old days," Madara finished with a small smile as he placed a hand on Izuna's shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze.

Izuna, in response, merely gazed slightly upwards into his father's eyes and gave him a small smile in return.

'Well,' the younger of the two thought as he gazed at the buildings that started to peek out from the trees that seemingly surrounded the village, 'looks like it's home sweet home.'

Once Izuna was within the walls of the village, he elected to leave his father to talk to his old friend while he decided to take a self-lead tour of the village. Kenshin had kindly offered to have one of the shinobi guarding him escort him around, but he had politely declined saying that he would rather learn the layout of the village by himself.

As he toured the place, however, he quickly came to one solid conclusion about the village. Despite his love of the previous village on the outskirts of Hi no Kuni, this place absolutely blew it away in terms of beauty. The buildings seemed to be crafted in a way that made nearly each and every one of them uniquely shaped while the beauty of the trees surrounding its walls gave it the feeling of almost being at one with nature. It certainly helped matters that the island itself was surrounded by whirlpools that naturally protected its borders unless you knew the proper way to get through them.

The walls, meanwhile, were engraved with intricate seals that were only visible from the inside – seals so intricate that Izuna had to shake his head as he tried to follow the lines to keep himself from getting lose in the seemingly random and intricate lines. Said walls were constantly monitored by fierce red-headed shinobi and samurai who all kept constant guard of the water around their island to spot any irregularities or hostiles.

Even with its high level of security, however, the island seemed like a miniature piece of paradise. Though he was still slightly saddened at leaving the place he viewed as his home for 7 years, he had to admit that this place just seemed…livelier – almost as if the village had a natural energy that many other places did not possess.

It was while processing this information as he walked along, however, that he accidentally bumped into someone while he wasn't paying attention. Before he had the chance to apologize, it seemed that the individual he had bumped decided to get their two cents in.

"Hey, watch where you're going asshole!" A feminine voice shouted at a level of indignant anger that caught him off-guard for a moment. "Maybe use what little of a brain you probably have to actually pay attention instead of daydreaming, huh?! …Answer me you dickhead!"

The woman who seemed to be so offended at his presence stood at roughly 169 cm, had spikey, crimson red hair, violet eyes and a slightly round face. She was wearing a blue kimono with a red Uzumaki swirl embroidered on the back. In Izuna's eyes, she was the epitome of beauty, but his heart still ached too much over the loss of Akane to admit such a thing openly.

Reigning in his emotions, the young Uchiha quickly schooled his face into a neutral expression before he spoke to her.

"Hn," he grunted in a way that only a true Uchiha could likely ever pull off. "I just moved to the village with my father and was looking around when you bumped into me and started throwing a temper tantrum. To think that this day had been going so well before now…" he trailed off as the typical Uchiha smirk spread across his lips.

However, the smirk quickly left his lips as he saw the girl's entire face begin to turn red from anger and a tick mark made its presence known above her left eye. Having heard of similar scenes occurring from his father about Hashirama's wife, Izuna quickly began backing away from the woman before he turned tail and started to flee as his survival instinct took over.

"Get back here you asshole!" Izuna heard shouted behind him but a mere moment later as he continued to run away. "I'm going to make you suffer for saying that!"

 **Meanwhile, with Madara**

For the past 30 minutes or so, ever since they had left Izuna to tour the village on his own, Kenshin and Madara had been discussing Konoha and the possibility of war in general. Madara, for the most part, was simply requesting information on what was happening to the Uchiha clan since he had left. Despite his thoughts on what might've happened, the situation seemed to be worse than he had even expected.

The Uchiha clan as a whole was given a district outside of the village to live in away from the other clans as well as ordered to create a Konoha Military Police Force to deal with internal shinobi crimes and minor bandits. His clan, the one he viewed as the most powerful in the world, was reduced to a mere Police Force. His clansmen had apparently been in a small uproar about that decision, but it was too little, too late.

Apparently, however, his clan was not the only one that disagreed with the Nidaime's decisions on certain matters. When Tobirama had approached Uzu with the intent of asking them for help in the war, Kenshin had refused. He had told the man that Uzu will not take part in a war that their ally had helped to instigate.

At hearing this, Madara merely let out an exhausted sigh. Knowing that war was just around the corner, he knew he would need to push his son's training again since he had been somewhat lax with it in the past 7 years. He wouldn't let his flesh and blood experience the horror of war without knowing he was ready…and had hopefully surpassed even him.

"My friend, what troubles you?" Kenshin asked even though the Uchiha's face had remained stoic while he processed his thoughts.

'…I swear that he has learned how to read minds somehow,' Madara thought as he let out a sharp breath from his nose to show his mild amusement at his friend picking up on his emotions.

"I just worry for Izuna, Kenshin," Madara stated as his shoulders sagged slightly in a show of just how exhausted the legendary man had to feel at that moment since he never allowed himself to do such a thing in public. "My son…he's the only family I have left. I just want him, and Uzu now that I think about it, to remain safe through the bloodshed that's to come.  
"Well I don't think you'll have to worry about such a thing," Kenshin said with a small chuckle and a smile towards his friend. "I don't mean to boast, but Uzushigakure's walls have never been broken through, I think the village will be fine. Your son…he is the spitting image of you, Madara. If his abilities measure up to your own, then I have a feeling that there are few people in this world that could truly prove to be a threat to him."

Madara let a small smile grace his lips at hearing this, and a bit of pride seeped into him again at the thought of his son before his friend continued.

"All parents will worry about their children, my friend," the aged man stated with a knowing smile.

"Just have faith in your upbringing in your son as a warrior. From the way he carried himself when I saw him, we both know that he isn't a child anym…!"

The conversation came to an abrupt halt when a loud crash resounded at the door before it buckled inwards, prompting both men to rise from where they had been sitting in battle-ready stances. After appraising the situation in a matter of seconds, however, the stances dropped into more relaxed ones as Kenshin decided to speak to their intruders.

"Megumi," he stated rather forcefully in an all-too-polite voice, causing the woman who was currently thrashing a man around her own age to freeze with her fist cocked back and ready for another blow. "Would you care to explain why you're beating young Izuna there?"

The woman's eyes merely widened in surprise as she looked around the room and realized where she was – knowing only now that she had inadvertently interrupted the meeting her father was having.

"Eh…hehe," Megumi chuckled nervously as she raised a slightly bloodied hand to her cheek and scratched it as she rose off of the victim of her beating. "Gomen, Tou-san," she said with a small bow. "I didn't mean to interrupt your meeting."

Glancing to Madara who seemed to merely have a nearly unseen smile crossing his lips at the scene, Kenshin elected to let out a long, drawn-out sigh before he chose to speak again.

"I suppose it's not a big deal," he stated as he brought up a hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I was just speaking with Madara here about his son."

At the mention of the legendary Uchiha's name, the woman's head snapped to the other individual in the room. Once she caught his iconic red armor, she seemingly warped through space itself and appeared in front of the man faster than even Tobirama could likely pull off.

"Madara-sama! Kya! I'm your biggest fan!" She shouted at an intensity that nearly made the Uchiha flinch back a bit. "How old are you? Where is your son? Is he as handsome as you are? How old is he?"

Finally spotting a small period of time where the woman had to intake oxygen to continue her barrage of questions, the Uchiha took the opportunity to get a word in edge-wise.

"It seems you and my son have already been acquainted," he stated as the girl's eyes widened substantially and followed his arm as he gestured towards the prone form in the room that had blood running down his face from his likely-broken nose. "He is my son, Uchiha Izuna."

Glancing from a man she had idolized due to his exploits on the field of battle to his son repeatedly, the woman's face slowly turned red again from either anger or embarrassment at the situation.

"WHAT THE HELL –TTEBANE?!"

 **Many years later; Day of the Uzushiogakure Massacre**

Izuna woke up to a scene that he would secretly never get tired of – staring into the peaceful face of his beloved Megumi fast asleep next to him. After their questionable first 'meeting,' their interactions had gotten only slightly more courteous due to the stubbornness that most Uzumaki seemed to possess.

It wasn't a normal conversation between the two of them for quite some time, in fact, if she didn't insult his intelligence to some degree with one of her nicknames. It wasn't uncommon to hear her constantly referring to him as an idiot, a brainless prick, or even mentally challenged in various ways. However, despite the harsh names, the way in which she said them seemed to be more in a teasing fashion than a serious one – something he suspected she did due to secretly having feelings for him.

Despite his assumptions on the matter though, Megumi had never made any obvious attempt in displaying her affections towards him. Her opinion of him only become obvious after he had rescued her from Kumo's attempt at kidnapping her. It was a simple kidnapping operation that they would have gotten away with…if Izuna hadn't sensed her chakra moving out of the gates in the dead of night. Having gotten suspicious, he had gone to check if everything was okay only to fall into a blind rage and kill the 4 Kumo Jonin that they had sent to try to ensure the mission's success when he saw what they were attempting.

After that event and having carried her back to the village bridal-style, the nicknames he had grown accustomed to suddenly stopped. When Megumi called to him now, it was usually simply as his name or with the –kun suffix on occasion – something he had smirked a bit about as it proved his earlier presumptions were likely correct.

Shortly after the two started talking calmly to one another, they became close friends. Eventually, he broke down and gave the woman a brief summary of his life during one of their days together. He told her everything from his training, to he and his father's leaving Konoha, and even about having to leave his first love to ensure she wouldn't be hurt because of his family.

Though Megumi hadn't cried for his trials, as they weren't that connected at the time, it had certainly caused her to see him in a bit of a new light. After all, knowing that a man had given nearly everything for his family and to protect those he loved would cause most people to view them with more admiration.

After that day, they had grown even closer to one another. They quickly became best friends and it eventually blossomed into a love that nearly everyone in the village but the two of them had fully expected to happen. Over the years, they became lovers before it grew further and they became a loving married couple.

Eventually, the two of them had elected to try to conceive a child together. However, it seemed that Megumi simply couldn't get pregnant. Their worry had grown to the point of getting her a check-up with a medic-nin, but she seemed to have a clean bill of health. The medic had simply suggested that they were unlucky, but the young couple still worried that they would never have a child of their own for a reason they did not understand. Madara, after hearing this, saw himself and his late wife in the two of them causing him to chuckle at the news confusing both of them.

Despite their misfortune in the pregnancy department, however, Megumi's mother seemed to have gained what luck they didn't possess. Over the years, the woman had been lucky enough to give birth to another beautiful baby girl of her own – a girl she had lovingly named Kushina. It was still a fond memory for all residents in Uzushiogakure to see a thrilled Megumi running through the village shouting "I'M GOING TO HAVE A LITTLE SISTER –TTEBANE!"

Kushina would grow into a fine young woman in her own right, nearly looking as if she were a miniature version of her sister albeit with smooth red hair instead of the natural spikiness Megumi's possessed.

Unfortunately, Kushina would never know what it was like to come into adulthood in the village of her birth. Mito, Uzu's representative in Konoha, requested for the girl to be sent there in order to take her place as the new container for the Kyubi in order to keep it from escaping when she inevitably passed on.

News of Mito's impending demise had struck Madara somewhat harshly, particularly due to the fact that he still felt rather powerful despite his old age, but he had ultimately fought off the urge to see her one last time before she passed on. Despite his past connection to the woman through her husband, Konoha had ultimately betrayed him, and he knew he wouldn't be welcomed there even if it was just to see her.

It had been 2 years since Kushina's departure, and despite the village being a bit less lively than before, life had gone on.

Expecting another normal day by Uzu's standards, Izuna reluctantly dragged himself out of the warmth of his bed after brushing a few locks of hair out of his wife's face and causing her to stir slightly. His father was out of the village, having been purposely vague and only referring to having to do 'research' of some sort in a series of hot springs, so he leisurely strolled through the hallways to get to the kitchen while thinking on what to prepare he and his wife for breakfast. It was only when he had woken up enough to alleviate his peaceful morning stupor that he noticed something seemed off.

Concentrating on spreading his chakra to the surrounding area as the sensors in Uzu had taught him to do to mimic sensor abilities, he registered a great number of chakra signatures within the walls that he wasn't familiar with. Activating his Sharingan and running outside, he had to avoid stumbling back at what he saw.

Uzushiogakure, the village he had come to know and love far greater than the one he had stayed in within Hi no Kuni's borders for 7 years, was under heavy assault. Even as shinobi and samurai of Uzu ran back and forth in front of his estate, he silently cursed the sound suppressing seals that riddled his walls for rendering him unable to hear of the attack sooner.

Jumping up to a wall to get a better view of what was going on, a lump quickly formed in his throat at the absolute devastation he bore witness to. A solid seventy-five percent of the village was already in ruins as allied forces of Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri marched forward at a steady rate with the intent on destroying the rest of it. Quickly assessing his options, he deemed defenseless as nearly impossible numbers of enemies were within the walls. Not only that, however, but Uzu had likely already lost a good portion of its battle-ready forces.

Already of the opinion that there was nearly nothing he could do, Izuna rushed back and straight into the master bedroom.

"MEGUMI, WAKE UP!" He shouted with enough intensity to make his wife bolt up immediately from bed with a kunai at the ready – something the both of them always hid under their pillow for safety purposes. "Uzu is under siege," Izuna continued as he quickly reached under the bed and pulled out a simple but large duffle back as he rushed to the closet and began tossing in clothes.

"W-what?" Megumi asked with widened eyes as her brain began processing the chilling shouts and explosions that were now able to be heard in the house since the door was open. "Who…who is attacking our village?"

Glancing to his wife for a brief moment, the Uchiha noted that she seemed to be absolutely furious if the whitening knuckles on her fist holding the kunai were any indication. However, he quickly tore his gaze away from her as he started throwing in scrolls that he kept in a locked check under the bed into the duffle bag as well.

"Iwa, Kiri, and Kumo from the look of things," he answered sparingly as he tried to bring his breathing under control while continuing to pack away a small supply of weapons they kept at the bottom of their closet. "We don't have time for this now, get ready to leave immediately!"

"Why?!" Megumi shouted as she sprung out of bed with the kunai still gripped tightly in their hand. She turned her gaze away from him only for a moment in reaction to a particularly close-sounding explosion. "We should be defending the village, not running away from these cowards!"

"BECAUSE THE VILLAGE IS ALREADY LOST!" Izuna shot back with anger towards as his Sharingan flared. His intense expression softened immediately at seeing Megumi flinch away from him, but he quickly threw some more items into the duffle bag as he zipped it shut and brought out two pre-prepared backpacks from their closet he had prepared for just such an emergency.

"I love this village too," he stated after a pregnant pause between the two of them. "I would do anything to protect it if I was able to, but we won't be able to do anything but kill off a good number of attacking shinobi before falling ourselves. Please Megumi," he stated as he reached out and grabbed her hand after noticing that her body was shaking. "Trust me on this…I beg of you."

The Uzumaki woman seemed to hesitate for a few moments as her body shook and a few tears gathered in her eyes, but she gave a slight nod of her head towards the man before quickly walking to their closet with a sniffle and changing into some clothes suitable for traveling even as the sounds of battle grew closer and closer.

Two short minutes later, the two of them rushed out of their estate together towards one of the secret exits that Uzu had built into its original design in case something like this occurred. Izuna had heard Megumi nearly let out a wail of despair at seeing her village so devastated, but she seemed to keep herself calm enough in order to function for the time being.

The male Uchiha, likewise, felt his heart nearly shatter as he saw some of the wounded and dead lingering in the streets – seemingly making their comrades and/or family drop them to go ahead or having died on the way. Many lovers sat crying over their significant others, sons crying over mothers and fathers, or worse…mothers and fathers crying over sons or daughters.

He hated this sensation…being powerless to protect those he cared for. However, for the time being, he wouldn't allow himself to succumb to that despair. He was an Uchiha, and he would be damned if he would let his wife be hurt by anyone who dared to try to harm her.

What he hadn't noticed in that time, due to his deep despair in seeing his wife and village in such a state, is that his normal Sharingan had changed shape into a three pointed shuriken. It was only when they had gotten safely outside of the village and onto a hilltop overlooking it that he allowed he and his wife a moment to recover themselves. Their emotions only ran more rampant, however, as they overlooked the final stand of the remaining shinobi of Uzu as well as the village's inevitable downfall.

The Uchiha forced his own feelings to the side, however, as Megumi dropped to her knees at his side and silently wailed – knowing she couldn't do so aloud in fear of drawing enemies to their location. However, despite her self-control being at a level to stop herself from crying out, she couldn't stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks in waves.

Seeing all of this, Izuna dropped down to a knee and simply held her shaking form in his arms, trying to encourage her to let out all the emotions she could while she still had the chance. From that day forward, he knew that their live would never be as peaceful as it was again. His eyes shone blood red with restrained rage as the ground under him cracked under his pressure.

 **2 hours later**

A single, tall form stood on the wall overlooking Uzushiogakure – the man having jumped up there just moments ago. The red, samurai-like armor that covered his form would give away his identity to anyone well informed about him, but it was doubtful anyone did since he was supposed to have died long ago.

He simply stood with his gaze cast over the village – specifically to the large pile of bodies in the center where smoke rose and carried the stench of burnt corpses on the wind. His eyes closed for a moment as he unashamedly allowed two trails of tears to run down his cheeks as he watched the celebrating armies of 3 of the 5 great villages in the streets of what he had viewed as his home.

Despite his experiences with Konoha and the hatred he had for them, he had never felt hatred as strong as he did in that moment. The closest thing he could relate to it was when he had lost his brother. However, despite the emotional pain the loss of his brother had given him, today he had lost both his son and the woman he had come to slowly view as a daughter and proper wife for his boy.

The only people he still lived for were now dead at the hands of enemy shinobi, killed by the cruelty that their world promoted so blatantly. It was in that moment that Madara decided that he would do whatever was necessary in order to make sure people would never again lose their parents, siblings, or children. He would create a world where there was no such thing as war…a world where everyone was able to live their lives peacefully. Even if he had to burn the world to nothing but ash to make it happen, he would do so.

After opening his eyes once again, saw the world in a way that hadn't been seen in almost a millennia – through the eyes of the legendary Rinnegan.

The activation of the eyes of the man many claimed was Kami himself was a sign…a sign that he would change the world to put an end to war and create ever-lasting peace. If for no other reason, Madara would do so for his son; he would make Izuna proud of his father one last time.

In that moment, overlooking the decimated ruins of Uzushiogakure, the fundamental ideas of the Tsuki no Me plan were born.

 **8 years later**

The 8 years following Uzu's destruction were difficult for Izuna and Megumi. After the village's destruction, nearly all survivors of the initial assault had been systematically hunted down and violently killed by members of what had become known as the I.K.K. Alliance. Neither of them knew what Konoha was trying to do to help the survivors, but it clearly wasn't enough.

The systematic destruction of Uzu and the Uzumaki clan in nearly its entirety had served as a catalyst for peace of sorts to bring about the end of the second shinobi world war. However, within the 8 years of its destruction, Kumo had instigated the third shinobi world war through its refusal to slowly disarm its military forces.

The political fiasco between the great villages made it a difficult time for Megumi and Izuna. With shinobi from various villages traveling through minor villages for various purposes, it made it nearly impossible to travel through any populated area without the risk of being discovered. If Iwa, Kumo, or Kiri found out there was another Uzumaki alive, Izuna doubted that they wouldn't hesitate to send a full squad of Jonin to assassinate them.

Despite this bad news, however, it also came with some portion of good news. Tobirama had been killed in action against enemy Kumo shinobi which allowed for the election of Konoha's Sandaime. In a vote that was described as unanimous, Sarutobi Hiruzen had been chosen for the position.

Hiruzen was a man that Izuna remembered from his childhood, as they had been friends when they were both young. He was hyperactive, loud, and over-talkative, but he was certainly a good person when he had been acquainted with him. The only thing that Izuna remembered disliking was that he had been taught to try to win everyone over with understanding and love. It was a pretty philosophical idea, but the destruction of Uzu alone showed that it had no place in the Shinobi world.

Those with power ruled the world, and those with power made the decisions in who would be obliterated and who would be permitted to live on. A man's greatest love can later become his greatest source of hatred; hatred was born from love, and if there was to be a winner in the world…then there had to be a loser as well.

It was a philosophy that his father had tried to beat into his head, but he had stubbornly refused to believe it until Uzu's destruction. Speaking of the man, however, Izuna had not confirmed whether he was alive or dead. He had looked as best as he could given the situation with shinobi on the look for his wife, but he found no rumor of the man existing even from the contacts he usually communicated with.

The fact that his father was dead had caused him great emotional pain, but Megumi had been at his side to help him through the same grief he had helped her through after the village had fallen. In his opinion however, his father was better off dead. At least while he was hopefully at peace, the man wouldn't have to see how far the shinobi world had fallen.

However, today of all days was not a day for Izuna to wallow in his grief over what had occurred in the past. Today was the day that his child was born. Ironically enough, his son was born on December 24th – the same date as his father's birthday.

As the aging Uchiha looked upon the resting form of his wife and child on the bed they shared, he couldn't help but give a small smile at how peaceful they both looked. Naruto, as they had decided to call him, had a full head of the same black hair as he did but with streaks of his mother's red hair mixed in occasionally. He also possessed unnatural red marks under his eyes that would likely give him a dangerous and exotic look when he was older – though Izuna wasn't sure what to make of those. He would likely have to get a medic-nin sometime in the near future to make sure that it was nothing that could harm him.

His son possessed a rather narrow face for a newborn, though that wasn't completely unheard of in the history of Uchiha. He also possessed a pair of black eyes – eyes that held a high potential of unlocking the Sharingan in the future just like his father and grandfather had. He would be the heir to the royal line of the Uchiha clan, and Izuna could already tell that his boy would be a real lady's man in the future if he wanted to be.

He had decided to perform the same training method his father had done with him. Naruto would begin his training at 4, and by the time he was a teenager, he would be one of the most powerful warriors in the shinobi nations. He would make his son powerful enough to protect anything he held dear so that he wouldn't have to go through the same emotional pain he had…and he would make damned sure that he would have the opportunity to do whatever he desired.

He was positive that there was absolutely nothing his son would not be able to achieve in the future.

 **13 years later**

"Naru…to," came the weak-sounding female voice of Megumi laying upon a comfortable bed in a small cabin just outside of the Land of Iron's borders.

"Hai, Kaa-san?" Came the strong voice of a young man sitting next to her bedside. Though sitting, one could guess that he was roughly 165 cm tall – quite the feat for someone only 13 years of age. He was currently clad in a high-collared black shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol embroidered on the back, loose-fitting black pants that were wrapped around the ankles with white tape, black shinobi sandals, and had the sheath of a katana tied on his left hip. He also had a plain shinobi tool pouch just behind where the sheath was tied, and a kunai holster tied around his right thigh.

He had long, waist-length black hair with red streaks mingled in occasional. He let the long bangs of hair-style fall down his face, the right one blocking his right eye from view entirely most of the time. His eyes, when visible, were narrow with red markings under them that many would likely mistake for tattoos even though they were birth marks more than anything else.

The teen was Uchiha Naruto, the only son of Uzumaki Megumi and Uchiha Izuna. The teen who had unlocked his Sharingan at 7 years of age and mastered it to 3 tomoe in each eye by the age of 8. He was a prodigy in almost every sense of the word, but despite normally being able to maintain the usual stoic Uchiha expression, he felt tears welling up in his eyes at the words he knew his mother was likely to speak next.

"I…I won't…last…much longer," the red-headed woman stated between labored breaths as her eyes darted to her son's figure and she gave him a soft smile.

"…I know," the teenage boy shot back with a shaky voice as the tears fell from his eyes and began their descent down his cheeks.

His mother was the only family Naruto had left in the world. His father, Kami rest his soul, had died nearly 3 years ago when he was 10 years old. They had been training in a field when they were jumped by a group of nearly 15 Iwa shinobi – most of whom were Jonin or ANBU-level. In his prime, his father could've likely defeated them with ease. However, at 50 years old, he had been unable to fight to his fullest.

He had told Naruto to run when they had shown up, and being informed as he was, Naruto had done just that. He had gotten his mother and rushed back to where his father was…only to discover that he had taken far too many severe wounds to be saved. It was in his dying moments that his father had described just how proud he was of him…and it was seeing his father die before his own eyes that had caused him to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan.

His mother, having seen the change in his Sharingan and having some knowledge about them thanks to her husband's experimentation since he had unlocked them in Uzu, knew that they would cause him blindness unless he received a transfer from a blood relative.

Using medical Jutsu she had learned over the years, she had eventually transferred Izuna's eyes into Naruto, unknowingly unlocking the highest level of the Sharingan – the Eien no Mangekyou.

"Don't…weep for me…too much…Naru-chan," Megumi stated as she pulled him from his thoughts while placing a pale and trembling hand on his cheek. "It's…simply…my time to pass on," she stated before letting out a harsh cough for a few moments. Despite the bloody spittle that was on her hand as a result, she reclined her head into her soft pillow with a small smile on her face as her body suddenly seemed to gain an unnatural peace.

"Thank you…for letting me be your mother," she stated even as tears started dropping from her son's eyes faster than ever. "Your father…and I…couldn't have asked…for a better son."

Naruto tried to find the right words to say in response to his mother's words, but anytime he opened his mouth to speak, he had to struggle to suppress the urge to let out a sob. If one could've seen his face through the hair shadowing his face, they wouldn't have been a stoic Uchiha. They would've seen a 13 year old boy's face contorting in a struggle to keep from sobbing at the inevitable loss of his mother and the last member of his family.

Instead of saying anything, he merely grabbed her hand and held it tightly in his own, squeezing it reassuringly. He remained like that even as he felt the warmth slowly disappear from the hand over time and quickly become cold and clammy.

Glancing upwards, he saw his mother's face turned towards his own with the warm, loving, and reassuring smile she had always given him even on the days that he was afraid he had disappointed his father. During his worst days, she was always there trying to make him feel better and reassuring him that things would be better tomorrow.

Yet, as he gazed into her now-lifeless expression, he felt a pain even greater than what he had felt when he lost his father start to rise. His face contorted as it had before, but this time he was unable to suppress a sob as it broke through. Despite the training from his father telling him that a shinobi should always control his emotions, more sobs began breaking through as he shut his eyes tightly from the burning sensation he felt and reared his head back before letting out a shout – a shout filled with the grief, agony, and loneliness that were threatening to consume him at that moment. Power spilled out of his body as he shone with chakra. The entire area shook and the very ground cracked open at the release of such overwhelming power. After nearly a full 15 seconds, his eyes snapped open and revealed the rippled purple pattern that could not be mistaken as anything other than the legendary Rinnegan itself.

 **3 days later**

Naruto stood before a simple yet elegant pair of graves with simple wooden crosses marking their location. 'Izuna' was written across one while 'Megumi' was written across the other – surnames going unlisted to hopefully deter anyone who would try to extract their bodies to uncover clan secrets.

He was clad in the same clothing as before, though now he also wore a high-quality gunbai with six tomoe on each side of the gunbai strapped to his back and a small backpack filled with scrolls holding his clothes, weapons, and money within them.

He had taken some time to think of what to do, and finally ended up assuming that his parents would want him to travel to Konoha to live with his Aunt Kushina that the two had often spoke of. They had told him once to go there if he didn't see them for more than 3 days, so he presumed that it was his safest bet. His mother had often asked if he would consider going back to Konoha as well, so she might have told him to go there if she had thought of it in her final days.

"Kaa-san, Tou-san," Naruto said emotionlessly towards the grave markers as he bowed toward them slightly. "Thank you both for everything you've given me. I hope to make you both proud of me in the future. I'll come and visit again in the future if I can. I hope you two find each other in the afterlife."

After walking forward and touching the cross marking each grave for a few moments, he turned around and took a deep breath as he stared down the path that would lead to Konoha. After a few more moments of silence, he took his first step in that direction and to the very village his Grandfather had despised so heavily. However, while he walked away from the graves two people looked over at him with loving eyes.

"Good luck our child. Show this world what we Uchiha and Uzumaki are made of. Show them why they should have made absolutely certain that there were no survivors that fateful day."

 **Well that's how the chapter will end! As you can see this chapter was mostly the same compared to the original document except for a couple changes here and there. The next couple chapters will also be uploaded soon once I finish reading through them and adding onto the chapters and correcting any spelling errors and grammatical errors. So anyways I hope you guys enjoy this story as well as my other stories. Remember to rate and review my story as well as follow and favorite it.**

 **Sayonara!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys it is Anime Student here with the next chapter of The Legacy of Indra Otsutsuki so I hope that all of you enjoy the chapter and that you rate and review as well as follow and favorite! I also hope that all of you take the time to check out some of my other stories that I have going on. Well anyways I should stop blathering on and just get on with the rest of the chapter.**

 **Chapter 2: Arrival**

It was a beautiful and sunny day in Konohagakure no Sato. Birds were singing on the trees and buildings they landed on, children were out playing in the streets, but most of all, there was a lack of paperwork on a particular man's desk.

Said man was, of course, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha – Sarutobi Hiruzen. He was a student of the legendary Senju brothers, the sensei of the legendary Sannin themselves, and, though a secret to most people, an old pervert.

The latest of these titles was even proof if one were to see him now, as he was currently relaxed in his chair with a particular orange-covered book in front of his face. It was one of the earlier installments of the Icha Icha Series. Icha Icha Gambling.

'This day is almost too perfect…' the elderly man thought though he continued to let his eyes absorb the information from the pages of his student's newest book. 'It's a nice day, no one has come in with any complaints, and I don't even have any damn paperwork. Please, please let this be a day where I get some peace.' Not letting anyone in on those thoughts however, he lazily flipped a page to his book. 'Oh my~ Tsunare, you really are a naughty girl. Hehehe'

Despite his reputation for being a kind and loving man, as his previous thoughts showed, Hiruzen could also be ruthless and cunning when the situation deemed it absolutely necessary. He had led Konoha through two wars, so he was no fool to the ways of the world. Just before Tobirama had died to let Hiruzen and his teammates escape from Kumo-nin at the end of the second shinobi world war, Hiruzen was given the title of Hokage due to his willingness to sacrifice himself to ensure their safety.

Despite being seemingly worthy of the Nidaime's own blessing to assume the role of Hokage, the elderly Sarutobi clan member was not foolish enough to believe that he had led without making mistakes. He had let Orochimaru, his rogue student, leave the village alive and unharmed despite experiencing first-hand what he had been doing to infants. He had begrudgingly approved of the Uchiha Massacre which left only three of the once prestigious clan alive: Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uchiha Itachi – the one who had massacred the rest of his own clansmen. He also felt some shred of responsibility for the death of the Yondaime Hokage, as he could've performed the Reaper Death Seal himself in his stead.

'I should've been the one to die that day Minato, not you,' Hiruzen thought as he lowered his book and glanced up into the sky as if hoping the man he was addressing would be able to see him. 'You were still far too young, and you left Kushina and your son here by themselves.'

After the Kyuubi had been ripped out of Kushina's seal by an unknown man with the Sharingan, her body was in critical condition. However, thanks to her Uzumaki heritage seemed to have been a blessing to her, as it allowed her body to be able to recover from what should have killed anyone else almost immediately so long as she received medical attention which she had.

However, what some would call a blessing, others would call a curse. After hearing about the loss of the love of her life, she had fallen into a deep depression. She had been prone to breaking down randomly for weeks – particularly around areas of the village where she and Minato had done something special together. It was only thanks to her friend Mikoto that she was eventually able to recover herself and eventually overcome her depression that had threatened to consume her. Her baby boy had also helped her fight her several battles against her depression.

His thoughts about the red-headed woman and subsequently the little ball of energy she called a child, however, were interrupted by a knock on his door.

'Ah, damn,' he thought with a small sigh. 'I knew I wouldn't get through the whole day without something coming up.'

"Enter!" He called professionally after quickly storing his book in one of the top drawers to his desk. After turning his gaze back to the door, he was admittedly somewhat surprised to see one of Konoha's two dubbed 'Eternal Chūnin.' They were rather famous, or infamous depending on how you look at things, in the village due to their constant task of being the guards at Konoha's entrance.

What was more surprising than seeing Izumo there, however, was the man behind him. His face seemed young, but he stood at a height that made Hiruzen assume that he was 16 or older. He possessed long black hair with red streaks intermingled in and what the elderly Kage assumed was a red tattoo markings under his coal black eyes. He stood tall and proud in his black clothing, but the aura he gave off was cold. What secretly impressed Hiruzen, however, was the way he stared at him with impassive eyes that reminded him of the few times he had seen Uchiha Madara in his youth.

"Well, what's this?" Hiruzen asked in a somewhat playful tone towards Izumo. "Does my best gate guard want to suddenly become a sensei?"

"No, Hokage-sama," Izumo shot back with a small smirk on his lips that quickly disappeared as he continued. "This boy arrived at the gate about an hour ago and requested an audience with you."

"Ah, I see," the aged man responded as he let his gaze wander over to the black-clad teenager. His eyes widened marginally when he noticed the gunbai that was attached to his back as well as the way the boy held himself to be prepared to defend himself at a moment's notice despite his bored appearance. "You're free to go, Izumo."

"By your leave, Hokage-sama," the Chūnin responded with a bow before walking out of the office and shutting the door behind them with a click.

"Well, now that that's taken care of…" Hiruzen began as a small smile appeared on his wrinkled face as he interlocked his fingers atop his desk. "Who, may I ask, am I having this meeting with?"

"My name is Uchiha Naruto, Hokage-sama," the young man stated with the same bored expression as before.

The Sandaime's expression, on the other hand, had clearly showed just how surprised he was by such a proclamation. His eyes alone had nearly become as wide as saucers, but his expression quickly returned to one close to neutrality.

"Forgive me for being frank," the aged man stated as he firmly locked eyes with the teenager.

"However, exactly how am I supposed to believe what you say? Surely you know of the tragedy that has befallen your supposed clansmen."

'Yes, they were slaughtered by someone who likely couldn't even match up to my grandfather in his childhood – yet alone in his prime. They finally got what they deserved for their betrayal,' the gunbai-wielding teen thought with a mental smirk.

"I am aware of the incident, yes," Naruto responded neutrally – his expression giving none of his feelings about the matter away. "As for how to prove that I'm an Uchiha, my eyes alone should be enough to validate that particular claim."

Hiruzen then watched with baited breath as the coal black eyes of the teen in front of him slowly morphed into the iconic Sharingan – the three tomoe in each eye spinning in a dramatic fashion.  
'No need to show them anything further than this. I am of course entitled to a few secrets of my own.' Naruto thought as he quickly dismissed his thoughts about turning it up to the next level.

"…Yes…" Hiruzen stated as he stared into the eyes he had thought to be all but non-existent now. "I suppose, at the very least, that it proves you have Uchiha blood in your veins. However, I must now ask, what exactly is it you wanted by coming here?"

"To answer that question, I believe I should give you a bit of my family's history first," Naruto suggested before continuing. "As I stated before, my name is Uchiha Naruto. I am the son of Uchiha Izuna and Uzumaki Megumi, subsequently making me the grandson of Uchiha Madara."

He then paused for a moment as he saw the aged Kage's eyes return to the size of saucers, but pressed on despite the man's evident shock.

"After my Grandfather's fight with Hashirama at the Valley of the End, he survived despite Hashirama's thoughts to the contrary. From what I was told, he and my father moved to Uzushiogakure no Sato afterwards to avoid Hi no Kuni's forces since he would no doubt be targeted if it was found out that he was still alive. Despite the village's ties with Konoha, apparently they were welcomed there by an old friend of my grandfather's."

The Sandaime merely nodded dumbly, still reeling due to the fact that he was sitting across from the Grandson of the man who rivaled Hashirama in strength.

"While they were in Uzu, my mother and father met and fell in love. She was the daughter of Uzumaki Kenshin and elder sister to Uzumaki Kushina."

"Wait," the Sandaime stated as he held up a hand in a gesture that asked him to stop. "I heard you correctly when you said Uzumaki Kushina, right?"

"Correct," Naruto stated with a curd nod of his head from his position in front of the man's desk.

"My mother often spoke of her when I asked about my relatives. I remember her saying that they hadn't spoken in years, but I figured that she would still be in Konoha from what she had told me. Was I mistaken in that assumption?"

"No…no," Hiruzen stated with a small wave of his hands to emphasise his answer more. "It's just that I'd never heard Kushina mention anything about a nephew before. Please, however, continue your tale."

The young Uchiha gave a small shrug of his shoulders before he spoke again.

"There's not much more to tell," he stated in the same bored tone as before. "Uzu, as you know, was eventually destroyed by the I.K.K. Alliance and the survivors were hunted down and killed."

Hiruzen had the decency to wince at that. He had been one of the people to try to convince others to send them aid, but many people viewed it as an action that would've left them too vulnerable to enemy attacks. One of those people was Danzo Shimura.

"My parents, however, managed to elude their grasp and survive. Then, thirteen years ago, I was born and eventually trained in the shinobi arts by the both of them. My father was killed roughly three years ago by a large group of Iwa Jōnin, and my mother passed away a few days ago due to some sort illness that she couldn't fight off at her age. I took what belongings I felt were worth keeping and came here hoping to meet my aunt since she is the only family I would have left."

"I…I see," Hiruzen stated as he reached let his eyes meet the teenager's once again. Looking into them, he saw a strength and resolve that many couldn't hope to match. There was absolutely no question that the boy seemed to have the mindset of a true shinobi. "Where do you stand with your shinobi arts?"

"I am proficient with both Katon and Futon Ninjutsu and a handful of non-elemental techniques. I am well-versed in various Genjutsu, and I'm told my Taijutsu is quite strong for my age. I also have some knowledge in Kenjutsu. As you can see, I also have a fully developed Sharingan."

"That is quite an arsenal for one so young," the Sandaime admitted with sincerity. "I presume you would like to put them to use in the future as a shinobi of Konoha?"

"Aside from meeting with my aunt, it was indeed my intention to become a shinobi. If you are willing to accept me, then I would appreciate the opportunity to prove myself worthy." Responded Naruto as he held his impassive gaze.

"…Very well," Hiruzen stated with a warm smile towards the boy. "I'll see to it that you're admitted into the Shinobi Academy within the next few days. If you pass their standards, then you'll be permitted to become a shinobi of Konoha. That aside, however, let's see if we can't get your aunt to come in to see you."

With a snap of his fingers, a bear-masked ANBU agent came out of the shadows and kneeled at the Sandaime's side while awaiting an order. The aged Kage only smiled a bit more when he saw no surprise in Naruto's expression at the sudden appearance, leading him to believe that he knew the agents had been in his office the whole time.

"Find and tell Uzumaki Kushina…and Uchiha Mikoto to come to my office immediately. It's non-optional." Ordered Hiruzen as he rubbed his forehead at the premonition of a headache.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the man stated firmly before disappearing in a small swirl of leaves.

'This boy,' Hiruzen thought as he directed his gaze back to the grandson of the feared Uchiha Madara. 'I can already tell that he's going to be a force to be reckoned with.'

 **30 minutes later**

"Y-y-you're my sister's son…?" the familiar form of Uzumaki Kushina asked as she stared directly at Naruto with eyes that seemed to direct a loving gaze in his direction.

"Hai," Naruto responded with a simple nod of his head as he reached held out a scroll he had taken out while waiting for the two women to arrive. "This is a scroll holding a good number of letters that she had wanted to send you over the years, but couldn't for fear of them being intercepted. She mentioned to me once that only an Uzumaki would know the seal that keeps it shut. And only an Uzumaki would be able to open the seal."

As Kushina shakily reached out and grabbed the scroll, she rolled it over in her hands with some tears welling up in her eyes as she spotted the familiar Uzumaki swirl engrained in the front. It was a simple yet incredibly effective seal that would only allow someone of the user's blood to unseal it – commonly referred to as a blood seal.

Still shaking slightly, Kushina raised her thumb up to her teeth and bit down with her canine before rubbing some of the live-sustaining liquid over the swirl on the scroll. It glowed blue for a brief moment…before it opened with a resounding click.

Unfurling the scroll rather quickly after it opened, Kushina saw a series of containment seals on the inside of it. Quickly performing some simple math, there seemed to be 87 individually filled seals within the scroll along with 13 empty ones.

However, instead of checking what was in the seal first, Kushina returned her gaze back to the teenager that had given her the scroll. Thinking back to her childhood, she distinctly remembered her sister always being around a man that looked eerily similar to the boy before her now. The only drastic differences were the markings beneath his eyes, the red streaks in his black hair, and his hair being noticeably spikier than the man her sister had hung around with.

She could almost see the feint outlines of her sister and her boyfriend combining to form the individual before her. Most of all, however, was the fact that his eyes seemed to be very much like the man she remembered from the past. The eyes, if nothing else, confirmed it for her.

"So…that means…you're my nephew then?" Kushina asked with a slow but growing smile on her face.

"Hai," Naruto responded.

'Not to mention heir to the Uchiha clan,' Mikoto thought from Kushina's side as a small smile graced her expression at seeing her best friend hear about the family she had assumed was long gone. '…I suppose I can wait for a while before I bring that up though. I have a feeling Sasuke isn't going to take this well. Not at all.'

Kushina, electing to close the scroll until she had a chance to go through it later, then walked directly up to Naruto as they stood nearly eye-to-eye. After an impromptu staring contest that lasted for a few moments, Kushina opened her arms and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug that caused his stoic expression to contort into pain for a brief moment before he adjusted to it.

"I thought I had lost everyone," the red-headed woman whispered only loud enough for him to hear as her hands dug into the fabric of his shirt slightly.

Feeling somewhat awkward being hugged by a woman he didn't know, Naruto merely put his arms around her and pat her on the back, not really knowing what else to do. Despite the unusual situation, however, a part of him was incredibly happy that the woman was so happy to see him.

After a few long moments, Kushina finally released him and pulled away with a sniffle as she raised a free hand and brushed away the tears that were still evident in her eyes.

"Sorry," she stated with a warm gaze towards Naruto. "I…get a little emotional when it comes to family."

"It…it's okay," Naruto stated with a hint of a smile pulling at his lips.

"Well, if I may interject here for a moment," came the elderly voice of Hiruzen who had remained in the room. "Naruto here has agreed to become a shinobi of Konoha, and as such will be attending the academy in the next few days. However, we will have to sort out a place for him to stay…"

"You say that like I'd like him stay anywhere other than with me, -ttebane!" Kushina shouted as she roughly grabbed Naruto's arm and started pulling him towards the door. "Hiruzen, prepare the adoption papers for me! Mikoto, we're going home!"

With a chuckle from the Hokage and a soft smile from Mikoto, the group exited the room without further protest. Naruto, on the other hand, was having his first thoughts about what dealing with his aunt would be like in the future.

'Hn,' he thought – the familiar Uchiha grunt being commonly used even within his mind. 'This woman is going to be troublesome.' He may have thought that even though there was a clear grin on his face though it was small it was still there.

At that moment around the village, a 13 year old Shikamaru let out a violent sneeze while staring at the clouds.

 **20 minutes later**

People were staring strangely as Kushina walked down the streets…well stranger than they usually would. Then again, as she was nearly dragging around a teenage boy behind her by his hair towards the Uchiha compound, the strange looks she got weren't really unwarranted. It looked to be quite painful, but the boy's expression didn't show that he felt any significant amount of pain. He merely contented himself to watching the surroundings and people with a bored gazed.

Uchiha Mikoto, who was walking just behind the two of them, let out a small sigh at the sight. 'Things are definitely going to change a bit around here now,' she thought. Oh, if only she knew how right she would eventually be.

As they entered the compound, Naruto's gaze seemed to linger on the Uchiha symbol wherever it was seen, but still seemed to be disinterested for the most part. Even when they entered the house the Uzumaki and Uchiha family currently shared, his gaze didn't seem to get any more interested.

"Menma, Sasuke, we're back!" Mikoto shouted once they had stepped into the house. After a few moments, two boys came jogging inside from the back – the area that remained clear for training purposes.

The first of them had jet black hair in the style of…well…the butt of a duck more or less with his bangs framing the sides of his face. He wore a dark blue, high-collared t-shirt with the Uchiha crest embroidered on the back along with a pair of white shorts. The second boy was a bit more…interesting. He wore a neon-orange jumpsuit, had spikey blonde hair with red thrown in there occasionally, and a pair of cerulean blue eyes. His most interesting feature, though, would have to be the 3 whisker marks he had on either cheek.

"Kaa-san, who's this guy? Why does he look so much like Sasuke?" the blonde asked before either parent had a chance to make proper introductions.

"Calm down Menma," Kushina chided softly. "This is Uchiha Naruto…your cousin," she added on with a cheerful smile.

"Wait, but you said he's an Uchiha," the boy dubbed Sasuke stated with an obviously confused expression on his face. "How can he be Menma's cousin? Wouldn't he be my cousin?"

"That's because his father was an Uchiha, Sasuke," Mikoto said softly from the side. "Kushina's sister and one of our...distant family members were his parents. His mother passed away a few days ago, so he's going to stay with us for the foreseeable future."

There was a silence as Sasuke and Naruto silently observed each other with nearly identical expressions, though that moment was broken by the hyperactive blonde that they had nearly forgotten was in the room.

"This is awesome!" Menma shouted with enough force to cause everyone in the room but Naruto to flinch slightly. "With a new badass Uchiha cousin to hang around, maybe I can finally get all of the girls Sasuke-teme gets to actually like me." The blonde then rushed up to the new addition to his family and looked up at him as if he found him the most interesting thing in the world at that moment.

"Hey, are you going to be going to the academy? Do you know any jutsu? Do you act like all the other stuck-up Uchiha? No offence, Mikoto-oba-chan!" Menma stated immediately after his final question with a warm glance back at the female Uchiha. However, despite the possibilities that ran through the young blonde's mind at how his cousin could answer, he wasn't prepared for the one he received.

"Hn, troublesome blonde," Naruto

Once again, a certain Nara sneezed violently while still continuing to watch the clouds. 'Too troublesome to think about what's causing it,' he thought as he began trying to doze off once again.

Immediately after the words hit his ears, a small rain cloud suddenly appeared over Menma's head as he started crying as he crouched down and ran his finger in patterns on the ground while mumbling about how his cousin didn't love him. The reaction was rather dramatic from the two words spoken, three if you counted the grunt, but it seemed that he was emotional enough for it to genuinely depress him.

Sasuke, however, looked at Naruto with immediate respect upon hearing his response and Menma's subsequent reaction. Combining the traditional Uchiha grunt with the catch phrase Shikamaru and the Nara clan in general were known for apparently had an outstanding effect on Menma. Despite the fact that he was usually quite logical in his thoughts, he couldn't help but wonder for a brief moment if it would have such an effect on Itachi. However, he shook his head clear of such silly ideas after a brief moment and extended his hand towards the teen who was easily taller than he was.

"Welcome to your new home, Naruto," he stated with the smallest of smiles gracing his lips. Despite not having a dramatic reaction like Menma did, Sasuke was almost equally excited that there was another living Uchiha – he just hid it much better.

The simple action had somewhat shocked Naruto. Knowing that Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's elder brother, had murdered the clan had made him think that it would be a lengthy process to get the boy to accept him. Yet despite that fact, the boy was willing to accept him immediately like his mother and Kushina had? It seemed to be a plausible idea that interacting with Menma and Kushina on a regular basis could've helped with his trust issues, but regardless of what had made him more accepting of people, he wasn't going to question it.

"Thanks Sasuke," he said with a small smile touching his own lips. "It's good to be with family again."

The raincloud over Menma's head, meanwhile, seemed to get larger than it was previously.

'Not another Sasuke-teme,' he thought as anime-style tears streamed down his cheeks while he continued running his finger along the ground dejectedly. 'He's my cousin and he's more like him than me. This isn't fair. I want a cousin that's like me too.'

The two mothers merely watched the scene with smiles on their face while holding back a fair share of giggles. Hopefully this would be a new start for Naruto and bring their families a bit closer together, but only time would tell.

 **Next Day**

As the first rays of sunlight of the day shined down through the window of his rather spacious room, Naruto's eyes snapped open. It was a habit engrained into him since his early childhood to awaken at first light no matter where he was.

As he sat up in the bed, he let his thoughts about his new family began to roam as they had been while he was trying to fall asleep. Having people other than his mother act nice and warm towards him was…nice. Even so, it brought up a lot of memories about his time with his mother and father. Izuna was a great man and had seemingly taught him everything he knew before he was killed. He could tell that his father genuinely loved him, but he seemed to show it in a manner more akin to tough love than anything else.

His father tried to engrain the idea that power, above all else, was what was important. Without power, you wouldn't be able to protect anyone you wanted to or obtain the goal you set in life. People would never be able to understand each other as their goals often clashed in a giant power struggle. It was a philosophy that Naruto had found himself agreeing with. Human nature wouldn't change anytime soon. Most people were shallow and could easily love you one day while they despise, detest, and fear you the next.

His mother, on the other end of the spectrum, believed that people would eventually be able to innately understand one another and create a peaceful world that people could only dream of in their day and age. While it was a nice thought, Naruto couldn't bring himself to take his mother's view on the matter regardless of how much he genuinely loved her. After the stories he had heard about his parents' home, a neutral village that had been annihilated during a war, he simply couldn't hold the same faith in people that she did. After all no matter how long he had, he would never forgive the ones that dared destroy Uzushiogakure and kill his father. He simply didn't believe that he'd be able to understand those _vermin_.

Shaking his head to clear the thoughts he was having, the blonde pushed himself out of his large bed and stretched, glancing out of the window as the rising sun cast down its rays on the Uchiha compound. He gave a small smile at feeling the sun's warmth hit his exposed torso before he quickly turned to the closet where he had taken the liberty of unsealing and storing his things last night.

He quickly garbed himself in his usual attire, though he elected to leave his gunbai and katana against the wall for the day. Knowing that he would have to attend the academy a bit later today thanks to a messenger the Sandaime had sent late last night, he decided to get in a bit of actual training before-hand. After having talked to Sasuke and Naruto a bit about what their curriculum was, he already knew it would be a joke. Thankfully, he would only need to be there for about a week before graduation, so he was grateful for small favors.

After grabbing a small breakfast from the kitchen before any of the others woke up, he proceeded to move to the back of the large house where the training area was located. There was a large dirt ring in the center of the area that was clearly meant for sparring, a handful of training dummies off to the side that were embedded into the ground, and a barren strip of earth that seemed to be where Sasuke likely practiced his Katon Ninjutsu.

He didn't really have room in the yard to do much of anything, all things considered. He had wanted to practice his jutsu, but any he used here would likely be far too destructive to the environment for him to use regularly. Even the barren area of dirt where it was clear that Katon Ninjutsu had been used was too small to use his regular **Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu** without fear of lighting something on fire that wasn't supposed to be. Then again, with how strong his fire affinity was, that fact wasn't too surprising.

That being the case, he merely elected to run through his Taijutsu kata to loosen up his body. If he was honest with himself, he could always use the extra practice at the art anyway. He started out slowly, getting used to practicing it again after having focused primarily on his other arts for so long, while slowly increasing the speed of his motions as time went on.

After nearly 2 hours of constant movement, and the end being a frenzy of punches, kicks, twists, and turns that most people couldn't hope to follow, he finally decided he had been training long enough. After wiping off the sweat that had formed on his brow while he practiced, he had stepped back into the household to see everyone else finishing up breakfast.

Kushina and Mikoto gave him a soft smile, Sasuke gave a curt nod towards him to acknowledge his entry, and Menma merely seemed to pout a bit at seeing him again after quickly remembering the events that had occurred yesterday.

After grabbing a piece of toast to sate some of the hunger that had crept up on him during his exercise, the three boys were promptly ushered out of the house so that they wouldn't be late for the academy – Sasuke and Menma both being told to show Naruto how to get there.

The walk to the academy was actually surprisingly silent. It was a fact that the newest addition to the Uchiha within Konoha's walls had found strange, but certainly not unwelcomed. However, such a good thing was not meant to last as the blonde's curiosity seemingly got the better of him.

"So Naruto, are you excited for your first day at the academy?" He asked as his lips stretched into an overly-cheerful smile.

"Not particularly," Naruto responded in a monotone with the briefest of glances towards his cousin.

"After what you and Sasuke told me about it yesterday, they will have very little that interests me. The only thing that intrigues me is to see how strong others my age are."

Sasuke, while still wearing his stoic expression, couldn't help but smirk inwardly at how alike the newest member of his household was to him. Upon hearing his fellow clansman's interest in seeing the strength of his classmates, however, let out a single amused grunt – something that drew the teen's attention towards him.

"Every other student in the academy is weak," he elaborated after a moment. "I am Rookie of the Year, and most of the others wouldn't be able to touch me in a fight."

Menma, off to the side, started trying to defend himself and a few of the others he considered friends, but Naruto merely let the boy's voice travel in one ear and out the other.

"I see," he stated as he kept his gaze directed at the fellow Uchiha. "That's…rather disappointing. No matter though, I need to graduate this academy to become a shinobi anyway."

The group the continued walking until the spotted a rather large and ominous dust cloud rushing towards them along the street they were walking down. Sasuke merely froze-up in terror while he could've sworn Menma seemingly grew hearts in his eyes that grew and shrunk with the rhythm of a regular heartbeat.

"Sakura-chaaaaan!" He called out as the cloud's cause took shape in the form of a horde of fan girls rushing towards them. As he ran forward to presumably greet the pink-haired girl in the front, however, he was quickly shoved to the side as the group continuing rushing forward…only to freeze as their gazes shot from Sasuke to him and back again.

Despite his ignorance in such matters, Naruto didn't miss the blush that started to form on the girl's cheeks as they stared at him and his fellow clansman.

"Two…Sasuke-kun's…" a blonde-haired girl in the front stated in a daze as her eyes seemed to linger on Naruto even more than Sasuke. Her statement was soon being uttered by the pink-haired girl beside her as well as their countless followers.

'Oh no…' Sasuke thought as he shook himself out of his terror after noticing that they weren't glancing solely at him now.

"Naruto…run," he warned as he began taking slow steps backwards. "Don't question it, just…RUN!" As he finished, he quickly turned around in a dead spring.

Looking at the horde of girls his age starting to slowly creep forward, Naruto found himself back-peddling away just as Sasuke had moments before. A mere moment later and he began to run away as his self-preservation instinct kicked in.

'Holy shit, kaa-san was right,' Naruto thought uncharacteristically as he jumped up to a nearby roof in order to try to slow down his horde of female followers. 'Fangirls are fucking crazy!'

 **20 minutes later, Iruka's classroom**

After having finally managed to lose their following of fangirls, the Uchiha teens had managed to make it into their classroom just as the instructor had been about to begin. When the two walked in together, Naruto had let his eyes quickly dart about the room to observe the others that were in his class. Despite believing in Sasuke's earlier assessment, he had been taught to always gather information by himself if he had the opportunity.

His eyes first landed on the pink-haired girl that had been the co-leader of the swarm of females that had chased him around earlier. From his cousin's initial reaction to her, he could gleam that her name was Sakura. From the way her group had moved around, he could take an educated guess in saying that she was rather intelligent, but her body seemed to lack any muscle that shinobi and kunoichi would need out on the field. If he had to guess, her Taijutsu and other shinobi arts were likely non-existent.

After Sakura, his eyes darted to the blonde female that had been her fellow co-leader in the group of females – a girl he had overheard was called Ino, likely a member of the Yamanaka clan judging by her distinct blonde hair. She hadn't displayed any of Sakura's innate intelligence, nor did she have any muscles on her that would indicate serious physical training. However, assuming his hunch about her being a Yamanaka was correct, she would likely have at least one clan technique under her belt which could make her substantially more dangerous than her pink-haired counterpart.

Next, his eyes landed upon a boy who had the side of his head resting atop his arms in front of him. Judging by that fact alone, it was likely he was a Nara, though he didn't know the boy's first name. The Nara clan were renowned for being incredibly strategists, feared shadow-wielders, but most of all…being incredibly lazy. He was one of the few here that Naruto would have to be somewhat careful with.

Darting to the boy next to the Nara, his eyes landed upon a heavy-set boy with swirls on either of his cheeks. His body-type along with close proximity to the Nara boy led Naruto to believe that he was likely an Akimichi. They were a clan known for expanding their bodies in combat situations, being fiercely loyal, and being the perfect protection for members of the Nara and Yamanaka clan. However, they were generally quite slow as well, meaning that he shouldn't have a problem with the boy.

Next, there was a rather obnoxious-looking boy with red fang marks on his cheeks who had a dog laying atop his head – a fact that immediately marked him undoubtedly as an Inuzuka clan member. They were a clan known for their great tracking abilities, their co-operation with their ninken partners, and fierce Taijutsu capabilities.

'Useless,' Naruto thought after taking in the boy's appearance for a few short moments. 'At least Menma's annoying in a younger brother kind of way. This idiot clearly thinks he's better than everyone else.'

Next to the Inuzuka sat a boy in sunglasses and a high-collared jacket that hid most of his face from view. He had his hand held over his desk with several bugs crawling over it – a gesture that nearly guaranteed he was a member of the Aburame clan. They were a secretive bunch that valued logic heavily and typically used their specially bred bugs to devour an enemy's chakra. They were a bunch that weren't to be underestimated, but could be dealt with easily enough if approached cautiously.

Finally, his eyes narrowed slightly as they came upon a girl with pupil-less white eyes that were a trademark of the Hyuga clan. He didn't need to read anything into her posture or personality, as he was already of the opinion that he would hate her. He detested the Hyuga clan, just as his father and grandfather had. They acted like their eyes were Kami's gift to mankind, but in reality they were nothing compared to the Uchiha. They had supposedly even started rumors that the Sharingan found its origination in the Byakugan merely to elevate their social status.

Naruto, however, knew better than to believe that drabble. He had been taught by his father who had been taught by Madara himself that the Uchiha were one of the two descendants of the Rikudo Sennin. He fully intended to confirm this idea himself when he had a chance to visit the Naka shrine – something that would ideally happen later this evening.

Before he could process any more thoughts about his observations, his eyes snapped forward as he stepped up to the instructor and gave a very slight bow towards the man.

"Ah, you must be our new student," the scarred Chūnin stated with a warm smile. "Hokage-sama made sure your files were all situated last night, so it's my pleasure to welcome you to the class…even if it will only be for a short time. Would you care to introduce yourself to the others?"

Glancing to the side, Naruto noticed that the class had seemed to grow silent as all of their eyes locked onto him. Even the louder ones, such as the Inuzuka boy, seemed intrigued with him.

'Because you've given me such a choice in the matter,' Naruto thought sarcastically as he let out a deep breath he hadn't completely registered he had been holding. Turning his form to face the students, he reluctantly gave the same small bow that he had given Iruka just a moment ago before he spoke.

"My name is Uchiha Naruto," he stated while showing no reaction to the surprised expressions many of the students had upon hearing his clan name. "I am one of the final members of both the Uzumaki and Uchiha clans, and your classmate Menma's and Sasuke's cousin. I hope you will treat me well."

Iruka, seeing that the boy was clearly done with his very basic introduction, noticed that a handful of students seemed to be murmuring among themselves. Deciding that the interest was high enough, he did what most instructors at the academy did with new students.

"Very good Naruto," Iruka said as he rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Do any of you have any questions for your new classmate?"

The pink-haired girl named Sakura immediately shot her hand straight up as if it were a twitch reaction to save her own life.

"Sakura, go ahead," Iruka stated with a barely-concealed chuckle at her reaction.

"If you're Menma's cousin, then how are you an Uchiha?" She asked with a genuinely curious expression.

'…Maybe she isn't as smart as I gave her credit for,' Naruto thought with an inward scoff.

"I stated that I am one of the last members of both the Uchiha and the Uzumaki," Naruto stated in a monotone. "My mother was Uzumaki Kushina's sister while my father was a member of the Uchiha clan."

"But we were told that the Uchiha were all…" Sakura stated as she trailed off after glancing at Sasuke. Despite her curiosity, she couldn't bring herself to finish the thought and possibly bringing up bad memories.

"By your records, they were," Naruto stated as if she had finished her thought. "However, my Grandfather left the village long before the massacre took place with my father."

The Inuzuka boy took this moment to scoff, drawing the piercing gaze of Naruto in return.

"More like he probably ran away like a weakling," he stated in his normal cocky attitude.

"I highly doubt most shinobi would classify one of the founders of this village as weak, _dog_ ," Naruto shot back as his piercing glare turned into a glare. "Unless you would classify Uchiha Madara as being a weakling."

Eyes in the classroom widened at hearing that, but none more so than Iruka's himself. However, as he somewhat subtly inspected the boy's appearance, he could spot the similarities. His hair, face, and eyes all seemed remarkably similar to the legendary Uchiha's. The only drastic differences was the red mixed into his hair, the red markings under his eyes, and the fact that his hair was a bit less spikey.

"Well?" Naruto asked after the boy and everyone else had been eerily silent for the past few moments. "Would you classify the man renowned an army-killer, someone many referred to as the Shinigami himself, a weakling?"

'I'm going to have to keep an eye on him today,' Iruka thought as he had to consciously force himself to stop from taking a step away from the boy. 'If he's anything like his grandfather, then my students don't have a chance in Hell of comparing to him.'

"…Okay!" The scarred Chūnin called, not really knowing how else to end the awkward silence that had occurred without even more awkwardness. "If Naruto's finished, then let's go ahead and proceed to today's tests. Let's head outside to the training grounds. We'll be focusing on Taijutsu and Ninjutsu today, so all of you do your best."

'Do your best?' Naruto thought with an inward scoff as he watched the students file out of the classroom and followed after them. 'Such a pitiful philosophy for shinobi in training. This is going to be pathetic.'

 **5 minutes later**

"Alright everyone!" Iruka shouted with enough force once they reached the sparring ring to get everyone to quiet down. "You all probably know the basic rules by now, but we're going to run through them one more time since we have a new face with us here today."

There were a few groans amongst the students who had heard the rules repeatedly said at least a dozen times, but Iruka merely shot them a glare that immediately got them to silence themselves.

"It's a simple Taijutsu spar in order to determine your level in the art. You will fight one-on-one with an individual of my choosing until I decide the match has gone on long enough, one of you are unable to continue, or one of you is pushed outside of the ring. Any questions?" The scarred Chūnin asked as he let his gaze purposely linger to the Uchiha who he was stating this again for.

Not seeing the boy indicate that he was confused in any fashion, Iruka quickly glanced at the list and groaned inwardly a bit. He had the perfect opponent in mind skill-wise to determine the boy's level in Taijutsu, but after the incident in the class from earlier, he was a bit worried about the fact that it might escalate a bit too far. However, he shoved those thoughts aside and merely shook his head upon realizing that it still needed to be done.

"Alright then, let's started with Inuzuka Kiba and Uchiha Naruto," Iruka called. The latter calmly walked into the sparring circle…however, Kiba was anything but a calm individual.

"Hah, this is perfect" the clan heir stated as he stepped into the ring after putting his pup down on the outside edges. "Now I can show you that the Uchiha are nothing special compared to the rest of us!"

Many of the other students, however, were wondering if he had a bit of a death wish. This new boy claimed to be the descendant of the Uchiha Madara. Sasuke was incredibly strong despite his lack of such a legendary man in his immediate family history, so they could only imagine how strong Naruto would be.

"Hn," Naruto responded plainly as he remained in a casual stance with his hands in his pockets.

Seeing that there was nearly no chance that these two would make the cordial sign of a spar before the match began, Iruka elected to just go ahead and begin the match.

"Hajime!" He called as he brought his hand down, not surprised in the least by what followed.

Kiba, seemingly enraged by the 'high and mighty Uchiha attitude,' that Naruto had displayed, had rushed in as he nearly always did and tried to hit him in the face with a haymaker. His speed was pretty impressive for someone in the Konoha academy, so such a tactic usually ended up with successful results. However, Sasuke was able to constantly dodge or redirect his blows before countering with his own.

Naruto, on the other hand, merely reached a hand forward and caught his haymaker of a punch as if it were absolutely nothing to him. Sensing the danger of being in such a position, Kiba had immediately squirmed to try to get out of his grasp only to suddenly hunch over as he felt a fist connect with his stomach with enough force to make him cough up slightly bloodied spittle.

Letting go of the Inuzuka, Naruto watched as the boy immediately fell to his knees and toppled over either in severe pain or having actually been knocked out.

"Pathetic," he stated with a scoff even as Iruka came over quickly to check on the boy. "A mere fool trying to dance when he doesn't know the steps…" With nothing more, he calmly walked out of the sparring ring and contented himself with waiting to watch the upcoming 'battles.'

The rest of the class, despite their expectations for him to be strong, were staring at him with eyes as wide as saucers. Kiba was the second best in Taijutsu right behind Sasuke, and to see him lose in a mere one blow was…intimidating to say the very least.

After Iruka had awoken Kiba and escorted him to the outside of the ring to sit down, he returned and proceeded down his list with Taijutsu match-ups.

The first match following Naruto's own was Sasuke and the Hyuga girl he learned was called Hinata. He had to admit that he was rather impressed with his clansman's display of the Interceptor Fist at a moderate-level - something that was only supposed to be completely accomplished once the Sharingan had been activated.

The fight ended a few minutes after it had begun. While the Hyuga put up a defense that was pathetic in Naruto's opinion for the entirety of the match, Sasuke had constantly overpowered and out-maneuvered her at every turn. He even let a small smile touch the corners of his lips after the match was called at seeing a member of the Hyuga clan put in their proper place at the feet of the Uchiha.

The next match was his cousin Menma versus the Nara boy whom he learned was called Shikamaru. At least, it would have been…if the Nara hadn't immediately conceded after saying the whole thing was too troublesome.

The 'match' after that consisted of the two leaders of the massive group of fangirls from before – Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. It was absolutely pitiful to him that such a display was actually considered to be proper Taijutsu in Konoha. Every blow they tried was telegraphed far too early, and their blows were more akin to haymakers than jabs or strikes of a sort.

He lasted approximately halfway through the fight before he got fed up at the pitiful display and went to relax at the base of a nearby tree. To anyone else, it may have looked as if he was nodding off, but he was actually just regulating his breathing and trying to push his thoughts out of his mind. It was something akin to meditating, although it wasn't quite the same process.

Naruto only snapped out of this state when he heard his name called for the Ninjutsu portion of the exam around twenty-five minutes later. He was the last one to go, but he had heard the abilities the others had used. Menma had used **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** , Sakura had used the basic three jutsu taught at the academy, Sasuke had used **Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu** while the rest of the clan heirs had used their respective clan techniques.

'Which one should I use?' Naruto wondered absent-mindedly as he made his way over towards Iruka. 'My Katon jutsu would be far too destructive here…ah, I'll use that one then.'

None of his thoughts showing on his expression, Naruto calmly walked next to Iruka before taking a deep breath as he chained a series of four hand seals at a speed that no one else could follow – not even the scarred Chūnin himself.

 **"** **Futon: Shinkuha** **,"** Naruto called as he turned his head slightly to the right and blew as he turned it to the left.

The result of his jutsu was a compressed wave of wind leaving his lips horizontally towards the target dummies. While many students had debated on calling him out for merely blowing air towards them, their comments died in their throats as they saw the targets quickly become covered in deep lacerations. One was deep enough to remove the dummy's right arm from below the elbow.

Iruka's eyes went wide at the display of Futon Ninjutsu since Hi no Kuni didn't possess many users of that particular element while the students merely gazed in awe at the destruction. Thankfully, Naruto's earlier display with Kiba resulted in no one really having the courage to question him about his strength after the display.

The class then remained in the same area as they individually came up to Iruka to have a low-level Genjutsu placed on them that they would attempt to dispel. It was a simple test, one that he had passed immediately by a simple chakra flare, but also something that a number of civilian students had actually failed.

Following the Genjutsu test, the class was dismissed for the day due to the instructors needing to start suggesting team combinations based on the results.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Menma were all walking out of the academy after the day had finished when the most overly-optimistic of the three's stomach growled loudly.

"Say, say," Menma stated from the side to get the other two's attention. "Let's stop by Ichiraku ramen on the way home guys."

At this, a rather peculiar reaction occurred. Sasuke, of course, maintained his usual stoic attitude, but Naruto's eyes shot open and latched onto his cousin's own in response with his right hand gripping onto Menma's shoulder rather tightly.

"Did…did you say ramen?" He asked in a monotone, though the look in his eye gave away his momentary lapse of his stoic attitude.

"Yeah, Ichiraku's has the best ramen," the blonde stated excitedly. "You have to try some, it's the food of the Gods!"

"I…I could certainly use some food," Naruto stated in the same monotone from before as he finally put his full stoic attitude back on display. "We might as well stop by the place."

Sasuke merely let his eyes roll at his clansman, but a small smile touched the corners of his lips at what he had seen.

'I guess he can't act entirely like an Uchiha,' he thought as the three quickly located and walked into the small ramen stand and gave their order.

While Sasuke was content with ordering one bowl of the stuff, Menma and Naruto each ordered five – something that had genuinely surprised the old man behind the counter. He had never seen anyone other than an Uzumaki eat more than two or three bowls of his ramen, so it was to be expected since he was unaware of Naruto's origin.

The two Uzumaki cousin's had happily devoured their food, though Naruto did so more eloquently than the blonde despite his fast rate of consumption. He had gotten table manners drilled into his head by his mother as a child, so it was more of a habit than anything.

Sasuke couldn't help but feel slightly ill at the idea of eating as much ramen as the other two, but he was certainly thankful that his clansman's only connection with the Uzumaki seemed to be his blood ties and love of ramen. At least he wasn't as much of an idiot as Menma was most of the time.

 **One week later**

Throughout the week that he was required to attend the academy class, Naruto learned a few other things about the individuals within it.

Sakura was indeed smart like he had thought, though it only seemed to apply to books and her fangirl-ism…though he still wasn't certain if that was a proper term or not.

Shikamaru was a great strategist just like he had expected of a member of the Nara clan, and he had proven that fact by playing against him in a game of Shogi. Though their matches had been incredibly close, Choji even commenting that it had been the closest game he had ever seen the Nara play, Shikamaru always managed to outmaneuver him at the very end after making some weird sign with his hands. It was incredibly frustrating to Naruto, but he would admit when he was beaten in an area and Shikamaru had him trounced in planned strategy.

His initial assumption about Choji was pretty much spot-on, though he also learned that calling him 'fat' was a bad idea for most people's health. That was proven when a civilian student called him that before Shikamaru could stop him, and he had ended up in the infirmary. The heavy-set boy had felt terrible afterwards, but it was obvious to nearly anyone that Akimichi are rather…sensitive about that particular word.

His initial assumption about Ino was correct as well, though he also came to learn that she really enjoyed flowers. It was a rather petty hobby in Naruto's opinion, though he supposed it might be useful in the long-term if she perhaps directed it towards poison-making or antidotes.

Sasuke and Menma remained primarily the same, though he quickly learned that his clansman liked to come across as 'brooding' quite often. He wouldn't begrudge him his habit though since it didn't seem to bother anyone. His blonde-haired cousin tried to constantly get reactions out of him to various things, which was slightly annoying, but also amusing to watch as well.

The funniest thing to him, however, was the Hyuga girl's obvious crush on his cousin. Within the week, he had come to the conclusion that he disliked her even more than he had originally thought. Despite the fact that she didn't seem to display the typical Hyuga arrogance, she was incredibly weak and had no particular strong points to speak of. It was merely amusing to watch her blush deep red and faint nearly every time he got too close to her or the way she seemed to hang on his every word. If she was really the future head of the 'noble' Hyuga clan, then their future was even more pathetic than he had thought it would be.

Today, however, was a day for a bit of celebration. It was a day where he would finally be free of this joke they called an academy and hopefully start getting some real shinobi experience under his belt.

The students today would pass if they could successfully use the three basic jutsu the academy had taught them since they wouldn't have gotten this far without passing marks on Taijutsu and other such areas to begin with. More specifically, students would have to display proper use of the **Henge no Jutsu** , the **Kawarimi no Jutsu** , and the **Bunshin no Jutsu**.

All things considered, the choice in jutsu was rather terrible in his opinion. Normal Bunshins, while possibly useful for a momentary distraction, should've been replaced with some kind of elemental affinity knowledge or possibly the Shunshin no Jutsu. Either choice would've made for a far more effective graduate, at least in his opinion. Even Menma's **Oiroke no Jutsu** was more effective than their choice.

He was drawn out from his thoughts as the door to the classroom opened and Menma walked in after having been called out of the room for his test about five minutes ago. Noticing the small gleam of metal on his cousin's forehead, Naruto let the corners of his mouth take a mild upward curve.

Iruka followed shortly after his blonde cousin with a wide smile on his face. Every one of his students had passed thus far, and the only remaining individual was the one he had known would pass to begin with. Looking up, he locked eyes with Naruto.

Giving a slight nod, he stood and made his way into the other classroom while following the man. He didn't need to wait for instructions, as he immediately performed the necessary steps in quick succession to one another. He immediately formed a single **Kage Bunshin** , had it use the **Henge no Jutsu** to transform into the figure of the Sandaime, and after a few moment's pause he substituted with it using **Kawarimi**.

In response, Iruka merely shook his head in an amused fashion as he tossed a headband to Madara's grandson before promptly turning out of the separate classroom and walking back into the usual one. Naruto, meanwhile, had tied the hitai-ate with the Konoha symbol engraved into it over his right bicep.

Once inside, Menma let out a loud cheer for him at seeing the metal gleam off of his right arm, though the only other one to show visible reaction was Sasuke who merely settled for giving him a nod. Returning the gesture, he quickly went up the stairs and sat in his usual seat before Iruka started speaking.

"I would like to congratulate all of you on finally becoming shinobi or kunoichi of Konoha. I can't begin to describe how proud I am of each and every one of you," he said with a warm smile on his face. "Tomorrow, you will arrive here at noon to be split into squads and mean your Jonin sensei. As of today, you are the fine shinobi and kunoichi of the village and now considered a legal adult within our walls. Good luck to you all, and continue to make Konoha proud as you have done with me." With nothing further to add, the man gave a wave and stepped out of the classroom.

Naruto, meanwhile, let his mind run over the possibilities even as the other students began to celebrate their graduation. He would be considered beyond lucky if he was actually partnered with Menma and Sasuke. He enjoyed spending time with the two of them, and were the only two people his own age he had come to be able to stand, but he imagined that the Sandaime already had plans for which teams to assign both of them on.

His thoughts then returned to a particular tablet that he hadn't found the proper time to go and look at within the week. Deciding that he had procrastinated long enough, he silently made his way out of the classroom and directed himself towards the Naka shrine. It was time to either confirm or deny the stories his grandfather had passed down to his father.

 **30 minutes later**

The grandson of Uchiha Madara now stood in front of the legendary tablet that was created for his clan by the Rikudō Sennin himself. Without any prompting, the teen activated his Sharingan and began reading what he was able to decipher.

What he read first was about the way to obtain the Mangekyō Sharingan – killing your best friend. It was odd to see something that he knew wasn't true written down upon the ancient stone, but he could see why that might've been thought of as the only method back then. Unlocking the Mangekyō is done when an Uchiha is overwhelmed by a sense of loss at losing someone incredibly close to them.

He then tried to decipher more of the tablet, but found he couldn't as the text seemed as if it became blurred. Running possibilities through his mind, he pumped a bit more chakra to his eyes as they morphed into the Mangekyou Sharingan. Noting that the blurred text from before had cleared, he continued reading.

The new readable area spoke of the special jutsu those with the Mangekyō could possibly wield: Kamui, Tsukiyomi, Amaterasu, and Kotoamatsukami. An Uchiha could seemingly unlock any two of the four depending on their eyes. Personally, he had awakened the power to use either the Amaterasu or Tsukiyomi. When he had unlocked both of them, he had unlocked a third power that only those with potent chakra can hope to wield – the Susanoo. The ability created a giant ethereal warrior composed of the user's chakra to both defend them while attacking enemies. It was one of their strongest offensive jutsu while also being the ultimate defense. However, this was all knowledge he knew already. It was only when he continued reading that he found himself somewhat surprised.

Following the abilities was the story of the Rikudo Sennin himself. His name was Ōtsutsuki Hagomoro, the son of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya – a princess whom had eaten the forbidden fruit of the Shinju or 'God Tree,' in order to stop the wars of mankind. She succeeded in that front with the powers she obtained from consuming the fruit, but not without a dire cost. The Shinju became enraged at the loss of its fruit, and tried to reclaim the chakra stolen from it by transforming into the Jūbi.

It was a monster that was regarded by a handful of different names. Datara, Deidarabotchi, and Ame no Hitotsu no Kami were but a few of them. The story then told of the Rikudō Sennin rising to power and defeating the beast before sealing it into himself and becoming the first ever jinchuriki.

Following that, the tablet described how the sage had eventually had two sons of his own. The eldest received the sage's eyes and spiritual chakra while the younger received his body and physical energy. The elder son thought that power was the only way to ultimately obtain peace while the younger son thought that love and understanding could ultimately lead to peace throughout the world.

In Naruto's mind, the younger brother was an arrogant fool. Humans were far too imperfect and tainted for peace based on love and trust to last very long.

The tablet, however, seemingly showed no opinion. It merely then went onto detail how the Jūbi had eventually been split into nine separate entities while its body was sent up into the sky to become the moon. After that, it told the story of the sage choosing the younger son as his ultimate successor. The elder son, having felt betrayed by his father, attacked his younger sibling to prove his father's decision had been the wrong one. Years later, the eldest son's descendants would come to be known as the Uchiha while the younger's would be known as the Senju.

Noting with frustration that the remaining part of the tablet was blurred as the center portion had been, he pushed more chakra into his eyes in the futile hope that something would change. However, to his immense surprise, the tablet actually cleared up just as it had when he switched from the normal Sharingan to the Mangekyō. Confused at the sudden change, he took out a kunai and maneuvered it to try to show the reflection of his eyes within it.

He actually dropped the kunai in surprise, then, when he didn't see what he had expected. Instead of the normal shuriken shape that his Mangekyō had, his eyes were purple with a ripple pattern around the small pupil in the center.

Though he couldn't be certain, Naruto could only come up with one possibility. Somehow, some way, he possessed the Rinnegan – the fabled dōjutsu of the Rikudō Sennin himself. If that was the case…then his grandfather's presumptions had to be correct, the Uchiha descended from the sage himself.

Getting over his shock, however, he hurriedly returned his gaze to the tablet once again to read the newly legible portion. It contained information about how the sage defeated the Jūbi with his brother and the reason Ninshu was created. The sage had created it and gave the people chakra to help them understand one another by giving them a way to connect to each other. It was an idea that had worked at first, but just before the sage had died, he had seen that people started using it as a weapon of war.

Instead of being used to connect mankind as a whole, and ideally bring peace one day, chakra was being used as a far more effective method of slaughtering one another. Ninshu eventually died out in its entirety and Ninjutsu was created in its stead. The destruction that the new art was capable of causing was then the cause of many of mankind's future wars.

After reading this new information, Naruto's initial beliefs were only strengthened from before. Humans could never live without war. Even when the Rikudō Sennin had given them the ability to leave peacefully and understand each other, they used it to kill instead. Peace can and would only every truly be achieved through power. People needed a leader to show them the way they should live, and with his new eyes, he would do just that. That night, a dream was born to unite the (remaining) Elemental Nations under his rule and show people how they should live.

Upon leaving the temple, he merely decided to go straight home and try to rest despite his racing mind likely making such a thing impossible. Tomorrow…tomorrow his dream would begin its first steps in his dream towards peace. He would have to be rested and concentrated so he would make it far enough to see his dream through. This dream would be what his parents would want, it would be something that would make them proud. This, if absolutely nothing else, would truly give him a reason to continue living.

While he lay on his bed after entering the house and remaining abnormally quiet, even by his usual standards, he neglected to realize that he was being observed the entire time by a black and white plant-like creature from the shadows.

 **Later, somewhere near the Valley of the End**

There was an ancient-looking man sitting upon a rather plain-looking wooden throne. His grey, waist-length hair had two bangs falling over his face – the right one blocking an entire eye from view in a familiar fashion. His left eye, however, was the unmistakable sight of the Sharingan with 3 tomoe spinning dramatically within. A moment passed in silence before the plant-like creature that had been spying on Naruto rose out of the earth in front of the man.

"It seems you were right, Madara-sama. Your son and Megumi lived through the Uzu Massacre and had a child together. His name is Naruto, and he looks quite similar to you, my lord." The creature stated with the white-half speaking first and the black-half taking over in a substantially darker voice towards the end.

If the ancient-looking Madara was surprised by this turn of events, his expression did absolutely nothing to show it.

"Very good Zetsu," he praised weakly. "You will confront him in a month and a half and tell him about me. After that…you will leave a **Chi Bunshin** (Blood Clone) in Konoha and bring him to me. I wish to see my grandson with my own eyes," he finished as his visible Sharingan kept spinning.

"Very well, but there is one more thing," the black-half added in before his counterpart dismissed them.

"What is it?" Madara asked as he gazed down at them with a small quantity of genuine curiosity.

"He has awakened the Rinnegan," Black-Zetsu stated plainly.

Madara's eyes widened in genuine surprise…before he did something he had not done since the destruction of Uzushiogakure. He let a slow and wicked-looking smile grew upon his lips.

 **Well then I guess that's it for this chapter and I hope that you guys enjoyed what has happened so far with the story and with Naruto and I will try to get the next chapter out soon so that you guys don't have to wait too long but once again no promises! Anyways remember to rate and review as well as follow and favorite the story!**

 **Sayonara!**


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